


Cold but Alive

by Detavot



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: AU in which Sebby actually cares, Crappy brat and even crappier foster parent, Gen, Meh they still haven't killed each other yet so it seems fine, tbh though these two are a dysfunctional family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-01 22:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15782961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Detavot/pseuds/Detavot
Summary: Show me how it endsIt's alrightShow me how defenselessYou really areSatisfied and empty insideThat's alrightLet's give this another try--So Cold by Breaking Benjamin





	Cold but Alive

**Author's Note:**

> You can tell this is an AU because Sebastian actually gives a fuck.
> 
> All jokes aside, I would love it if this platonic relationship was something writers explored more often. Don't you dare suggest me s*baciel fics.

    The demon looked at this worthless world and its worthless inhabitants from the shadows. He could count the types of personality this so-called varying human race with a single hand, and it all bored him terribly. He saw kingdoms, beliefs, languages fall and crumble to mere dust. He seduced humans with power and desire. A bitter taste and an unsatisfied stomach, era after era.

    There were few whose ideas would amuse him for a mere moment. The invention of the wheel, the discovery of using animals as companions as well as tools and food, the inventions of calendars and time, and many more startling advancements and amusing ideas almost made this immortal life worthwhile. Almost. Until he tore into their flesh to find only a meagre soul, and they were no more. Humans were expendable. War after war, peace after peace, slaughter after slaughter, idea after idea… It was an amusing, though lacking, cycle that left him craving for more.

    He tried keeping some humans as pets, much like they would do with horses or wolves or sheep. In the end, they all died in the blink of an eye with terrified expressions still present on their faces. The results were not satisfactory enough to keep on getting more pets, so the demon stopped. He made Contracts to make people more like companions than pets, but their desires were all too easy to keep them around for long.

    The demon figured that humans were a waste of time and effort for beings such as himself. They would only serve to amuse the ones higher than him. The demon’s thoughts turned bitter and harsh, and he began plotting ways to make those higher than him suffer. He wanted to find the perfect humans and lead them astray, to toy with the gods’ perfect creations and feast on their delectable souls.

    There were few types of humans, even if they insisted on every one of them being special. They were only cattle, staring at this world with wide and unassuming eyes--they were only there for someone else’s amusement and their ignorance was a comedy that the demon doubted would ever get old. He soared through the continents and searched for worthy prey, though he could meet only a handful that met his criteria. One of the Contracts had lasted exactly six months, and he felt his chest swell with pride as he took the soul of his longest Contractor yet. A wise man whose legacy would always be remembered, strong men whose abilities would be told through centuries… He devoured them all and left nothing behind but horrified and pained screams.

    Over the millennia, the demon began only accepting those who could summon him. The nineteenth century was quite a bore, the age of science they called it yet the demon saw nothing inside the faithful enough to wake him from his deep slumber.

    But then… a scream.

    A scream forced his eyes open and led him to a filthy room.

    A scream that was kind yet hateful, selfish yet self-sacrificing--a perfect paradox and a perfect prey waiting for someone to answer his call. Who could make his mouth water so, who could beckon him with such a siren’s song? He looked around and saw only worthless humans. He threw them out of his way to search for his one and only soul. A diamond in the rough would be the term these humans currently used, if he remembered correctly...

    A little, male human trapped in a cage. It was him who had done the summoning. The demon could feel the chains tightening around him and pulling him to the boy. A child who had spit on God’s name. Was that the best that he, a demon who had lived for centuries upon centuries, could do? A _child_? A child who had proven to be desperate to get his brother back, even in an illusion?

    “You're lying,” the child said as he interrupted his monologue. His voice was monotone.

    And suddenly, the demon’s interest was lit up once again. As the child explained his reasonings and made the contract, the demon did not allow himself to be too interested just yet. A child could not be so intriguing, they weren't as developed as adults--let alone as developed as a demon who had lived for far longer.

    But, as he burned down the sickening building with the worthless corpses he had made, he still couldn't help but think of being this child’s demon for the entirety of his pathetically short life. “It was the name of my dog,” the child said, and Sebastian couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration even as his insides boiled with rage.

    The child’s wide eyes--filled with the innocence, wonder, and curiosity those wretched adults and the demon himself had not managed to kill off--studied both Sebastian and the world around him. He was an obedient student, every essay was written before the deadline and every subject was learned as quickly as his mind could manage. The child had learned how to punish his butler with a frightening pace, and the two had become adjusted to each other in a few months.

    When the letter from Queen Victoria came their way, Sebastian had been in this Contract for six months.

    The child was one of the least arrogant humans he had met, unlike what Sebastian had thought earlier. On the contrary, the child had proven himself to be humble and quite agreeable as long as those around him made sense (or, as long as he still had a grip on his sanity). It was a delight to teach him all that he asked for, a delight to talk back to him and have a discussion, a delight to refuse his more senseless orders and see him agree. Everything was a game, everything that child did was a test for his demon.

    The demon would make sure the child did not lose control, and the child would do the same for him.

    He was cold. That child was always cold to Sebastian’s touch. And yet, as he looked at the blank stares in this world, that child’s heartbeat was all Sebastian could hear. The servants he and the child had saved, their blank stares and emotionless faces grew warm and alive. The child was spreading his warmth, sparing himself none. He was using a demon for such selfless deeds. Sebastian didn't know whether to laugh or applaud, so he did both at the privacy of the room his master had given him.

    Sometimes, the child would climb into Sebastian’s lap and rest his head on Sebastian’s chest. Sebastian would be reminded, yet again, that the child was very tiny and very thin. Fragile. So very easy to break.

    The child was no fool. He killed, and he trampled over the people in his way. _It is the way of humans,_ he would say. _But that doesn't mean I like it, or that I won't pay for it._ He erected tombstones for the innocent lives he took, but never once did he pray. _God doesn't care anyways._

    The child was selfish. He took two slices of the chocolate cake Sebastian tried hard to pry off his fingers, he took the lives he deemed unnecessary, and he took the riches he did not need. He took Sebastian’s power into his own hand and made himself into the ultimate king of the underworld. Supernatural beings, namely reapers and Sebastian himself, flocked around the child and waited anxiously for what he would do next.

    Once, in one of the dark and sleepless nights of his master, Sebastian had asked him what he had wanted to achieve with his revenge. The child had just shrugged and looked at the demon in the eyes. “If I cannot drag down Heaven, I shall raise Hell.” Sebastian could not deny his shiver of excitement at the boy’s words.

    He had thought about the Contract’s end for quite some time now. Since the child had found himself in the inky black mass that was Sebastian’s true form in Germany and put a stop to his soul being eaten, Sebastian had been wondering how exactly this Contract would be brought to an end and under whose conditions. With a rising chill of uncertainty, the demon realized that he didn't want this game to be over. He didn't want his Lord to surrender himself when his revenge was complete nor did he want to take the soul even if the boy gave up on his goal.

    He had finally found the companion he had been searching for, and he didn't want to let go.

    The child had brought color into this world. He had taught a demon how to see lives as more than just food, he had taught a demon the mercy that came with both death and life. He had shown this demon, this wretched beast, kindness and warmth. Sebastian didn't want to see him die. Sebastian didn't want those eyes, one a deep blue and the other scarred beyond its natural color, to lose the feelings it always held--negative or positive.

    As he looked at the boy staring at his dead brother with wide open eyes, the horror in his expression carving his childish face in the most grotesque way, he realized that he was dangerously close to losing everything. But he wouldn't. Sebastian swore that he wouldn't let this corpse take his new-found life away from him. And Sebastian could not tell lies.

    “Well done,” he said as his Lord and he were backed into the corner. He could at least compliment the little undead brat before he took everything back.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to write a complete series for this, but I already have some projects I'm working on. 
> 
> Anyone who wants to take this concept off my hands, feel free to message me or comment below for permission! (My Tumblr username is "detavot" if you'd prefer messaging me).


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